World's best solar cells use satellite technology

Sharp breakthrough pushes the envelope further than expected

Shares

Solar technology has long been one of those fields in which progress was always creeping, rather than coming in leaps and bounds. However, Sharp has upped the ante somewhat this week with the announcement of the world's most efficient solar cell.

Sharp achieved the feat using a long-sought indium gallium arsenide layer that had previously been impossible to manufacture correctly.

The InGaAs layer was necessary because the researchers chose to develop the new cell using a triple-junction compound technique that's generally confined to the specialist space cells that power satellites.

Orbital science aside, what the breakthrough means on this planet is that we may be within reach of truly efficient solar power at long last.